Notch signaling through Tramtrack bypasses the mitosis promoting activity of the JNK pathway in the mitotic-to-endocycle transition of Drosophila follicle cells

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Abstract

Background: The follicle cells of the Drosophila egg chamber provide an excellent model in which
to study modulation of the cell cycle. During mid-oogenesis, the follicle cells undergo a variation of
the cell cycle, endocycle, in which the cells replicate their DNA, but do not go through mitosis.
Previously, we showed that Notch signaling is required for the mitotic-to-endocycle transition,
through downregulating String/Cdc25, and Dacapo/p21 and upregulating Fizzy-related/Cdh1.
Results: In this paper, we show that Notch signaling is modulated by Shaggy and temporally
induced by the ligand Delta, at the mitotic-to-endocycle transition. In addition, a downstream target
of Notch, tramtrack, acts at the mitotic-to-endocycle transition. We also demonstrate that the JNK
pathway is required to promote mitosis prior to the transition, independent of the cell cycle
components acted on by the Notch pathway.
Conclusion: This work reveals new insights into the regulation of Notch-dependent mitotic-toendocycle
switch.